Direct from Cannes. Arthouse superstar Isabelle Huppert meets Korean cult director Hong Sang-soo in three amusing tales of potentially romantic encounters, each starring Huppert as a French woman visiting a small Korean resort.
Hong’s film rejoices in the capricious nature of romance and the samsaric ebb and flow of life… A visually eccentric and puppyishly funny film: the very best kind of odd.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2012
In Another Country 2012
Da-reun na-ra-e-suh
French woman (arthouse superstar Isabelle Huppert) meets Korean man (cult director Hong Sang-soo) in three amusing tales of potentially romantic encounters, each starring Huppert as a different French visitor (always named Anne) in a small coastal resort. Huppert puts a fresh spring into Hong’s ongoing satire of the amorous artist. His habitual finesse at juggling wry ‘what-if’ scenarios into a laconic world view is as irresistible as ever. Direct from Cannes.
“In each [story], Isabelle Huppert… is pursued inappropriately, leading to several warnings about ‘that kind of Korean man’, the kind whose foibles – including daytime drinking, bad sexual decision making, chronic obsession, and inability to learn from his mistakes – Hong specializes in plumbing for both comedy and pathos… Huppert is an outsider to Hong’s world but a gifted actress who proves to be particularly adept at the goofy stuff.” — Karina Longworth, LA Weekly